Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-08-24
yHisfellameuas &eadina.
THE DEAD MORMON CHIEF.

The career of John Taylor, the successor
to Brigham Young, who died recently, was
almost as romantic as the creation OF a
novelist. He was successfully English
man, Canadian and American Methodist,
Progressionist and Mormon =; laborer,
preacher and editor; martyr and fugitive !;
apostle and president then a fugitive
again, and finally died a martyr, if we &C.
cept as true the Mormon statement that
his last sickness was due to the close con-
finement made necessary to escape the
vigilance of United States marshals. lie
carried Illinois lead in his body forty-three
years, and his life was saved by the accl-
dent of a bullet striking his watch, but for
which the leaden messenger OF death
would have passed through him near the
heart. And yet he lived to be79 years old,
lacking but three months; and during
thirty years lived in peace, wealth and
local honor of Utah.
John Taylor was born November l, lS0o,
I'M Milnthorp, Westmoreland county, Eng
land, where he was reared a Dissenter and
in early life became a Methodist. In 1882
he emigrated to Canada, and was soon in
the midst of that wonderful religious fer
ment which sweptover America, especial
ly the western sections, during that era.
It was the age of religious debates, OF
which the Rice Campbell and Campbell
Purcell discussions, with many others, are
the permanent remains in our literature.
Ohio was the great battle ground of new
sects, and thence missionaries went to
Canada, by one Of whom Taylor was q
second time converted, becoming a radical
Wesleyan or Progressist. In 1885 ne be-
came q Mormon, gathering with the
saints" at Kirkland, Ohio, in 1887. About
that time, however, the Mormon bank
broke, the "Kirtland Safety Society, "mon-
ey fell to six cents on the dollar, and then
to nothing; creditors seized the goods OF
the Kirkland store; indictments issued
against some of the saints for sWindling
and others for counterfeiting, and the lead
ers fed to Missouri. The saints already
numbered some 10000 in the northwestern
part of that State; war between them and
the Gentiles broke out, and late in 1888 the
whole Mormon population was expelled
with much cruelty. They settled about
Nauvoo, in Hancock county, Illinois, and
%prospered greatly until 1928, when
trouble again arose with the non-Mormons.
All this time Taylor was working hard for
the sect, and rising in rank as we'll as &C
cumulating property. He was now an
apostle Gone of the quorum of twelve"
as the phrase is).
In lS43 the doctrine of"plural marriage"
was quietly taught to the trusted ones, and
the leading saints. took unto themselves
extra wives. Early the next year a few
men seeded from the church and estab-
lished the Erpositor, a newspaper in Maui
VOC, to oppose the new doctrine, but they
only issued one number. The Prophet
Joseph Smith promptly convened the city
council, had the paper declared q nuisance
and, with his devoted "gang," at once
destroyed the press, scattered the type and
burned all the copies they could get. The
editors fled to Carthage, the county seat,
and procured warrants for the prophet
and Hyrum $50 spelled by Mormons), his
brother; the saints in turn fortified Nau-
VOC, and babe defiance to the county ON,
them to surrender on a pledge OF protec-
ton, but they were o o taken out OF his
hands on a new charge, that of treason.
Joseph and Hyrum Smith were placed
in the Carthage Jail, treason not being
! bailable, and Willard Richards and John
Taylor went with them for company. On
the afternoon of June q, 1874, a mob
stormed the Jail, killed both the Smiths
and shot Taylor with four balls. Three
entered his body, two of them remaining
there for the rest of his life; but the fourth
ball struck a heavy, old fashioned English
watch he wore, stopping the hands at 5:16
| P. NJ, which is marked among the saints
as the ''solemn hour of the prophets
DEATH" Taylor recovered after a long
illness, and fled with the saints when they
were driven from Illinois in 1916. In
| 1917 he yielded his claims and joined the
Pratts and others in making Brigham
Young president of the church.
For the next ten years Taylor was a
missionary to various countries. He had
the "Book of Mormon" translated into
French, and established L'EOMe (1he
Starr, a Mormon paper, in France. In
common with other missionaries, he Bit
terly denied the charge that polygamy was
q Mormon practice. In France he look
solemn oath to that effect, and at a public
debate with three English ministers ne
vehemently denied that a Mormon could
have more than one wife, though he had
three himself at that time. All theM Nor
mon missionaries continued this system OF
perjury till the public avowal of the doc
trine at Salt Lake City in September, 1852,
and the publication of the alleged revela-
ton of July IL, 1843, first published in
England in April, 1858. Taylor then re-
turned to the United States and establish
ed the Mormon in New York city in 1854,
but the Mormon war of 1857 broke up all
the American missions, and thereafter
Taylor resided in Salt Lake City. When
Brigham Young died, in 1877, Taylor was
president of the Twelve Apostles, and that
body ruled till 1880, when the first presi-
dency was r%eorganized anew n Taylor
| chosen to all the titles and honors of the
dead prophet. He was, however, far more
timid and conservative than Young, and
made a few feeble efforts to harmonic the
church with modern civilization. When
the Edmunds law of 1852 was enacted he
vehemently charged the people, as they
valued their souls, never to obey it, never
to give up polygamy; but promptly de-
clared that he did not intend to be a mar
tyr, and he took himself to a safe hiding
place, where he remained till death.
NAMES OF THE MoNTHs.-January, is
so called from Janus, a heather god, who
had two faces, one looking to the old year,
the other toward the new.
February is derived from the Latin
Februs, to purify, because the Romans
held their feast of publication at this sea-
son.
March is named after Mars, the heather
god of war.
April is so called from the Latin word
aperio, which means ''to open" because
the buds and flowers begin to expand at
this season.
May takes its name from the goddess
Maia-the mother of Mercury.
June was named in honor of Mercury,
who was represented as a Juvenile figure,
to which they applied the word Junius.
July was named in honor of Julius Cte-
sar.
August was named in honor of Augustus
Cesar, the second emperor Of Rome.
September was derived from Septem,
seven.